Muxxi

April 8, 2016

Norma de Leon AKA Muxxi is an illustrator and graphic designer from Guatemala city, her work is about imaginary creatures and surrealistic worlds. While she was still finishing her degree in graphic design she began working as web designer and illustrator; since then, she has worked for various clients including Nokia and Mr. Chiizu. Her work has been exhibited in many exhibitions around the world including Guatemala, Berlin, Belgium, Canada and UK. Also, her work has appeared in magazines and publications such as Computer Arts and “Pictoplasma – The Character Compendium”

We sat down with Muxxi and asked her a few questions about her piece for Skull & Heart, ‘Makata‘.

Q: Hi Muxxi! how are you?

A: Hi, everything’s good, crazy days already, working on some pieces for upcoming shows.

Q: Firstly, we’d just like to thank you for creating such an amazing piece for us, we’re huge fans of your work here, its very exciting for us to have one of your prints up for sale!

A: Thanks for the invitation, it was a great pleasure for me to created such an special piece for S&H.

Q: So, how did you get into illustration at first? What led you down this path?

A: It was at the University, when I began the graphic designer career, I fell in love with the illustration world so I started to draw and to experiment with collages in Photoshop, at first it was a hobby but now it has become a very important part of my daily life and I love it.

Q: Talk us through a typical creation for Muxxi, how do you go about your work, whats the starting point?

A: I’m used to clean my workspace before starting a new piece, I pour myself a cup of coffee and put some candies near by, I listen to music or turn the TV on. At first I draw all my ideas in a small piece of paper, then I draw them again on a bigger format to clean them up but I often do it directly in the computer, it depends on what type of project I’m working in; and most important, I prefer to work at night, Yes, I’m a vampire!

Q: you’re known for creating very surreal dream like characters, how did you come about creating these personalities, and do they represent anyone?

A: I always had attraction for the surreal stuff, movies, pictures, animations etc, my characters are a mix of all those things and they represent the crazy side of me, I have a lot of creatures inside my mind having a party, floating in the sky, walking around the clouds, it’s just a fun and weird crazy connection with the surreal world I love.

Q: What are your Inspirations, what do you often look to when you need to get some ideas flowing?

A: I get inspiration from nature, people, dolls, books, toys, little objects, I feel attraction for organic shapes and patterns, I think I am a mix of what I see and what I live every day.
For the mental blocks, I turn off my computer and watch a movie, read a book, play some games or go shopping, it’s good to make some other activities apart from art, that’s always a good way to get new ideas and make better projects.

Q: Tell us about the piece you did for Skull & Heart.

A: I wanted to create a character that reflected a meditation moment, connecting to a magical world, like a dream, transported to another dimension where the calm and good things are all around her. I like to be spontaneous as much as possible and this piece has a lot of that.

Q: Can you tell us about any future projects in the works?

A: I recently made a tee design for a cloth brand in Spain and it’s about to come out for the public very soon, I’m also working on a calendar with some of my new and older works and hopefully it will be available in some stores in USA next year. I’m working on some pieces for local and international shows as well and some other secret projects that I would love to share but you know, secrets are secrets. Aside, I’m always painting murals and working on personal projects like illustrations and drawings.